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Written By: Admin | Updated : April 3, 2015 5:30 PM IST
A recent study conducted by the BMC has revealed that hypertension is the second-largest killer of pregnant women after excessive bleeding. According to data collected by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, of the 248 women who died in city hospitals 11 % were due to excessive bleeding, 10% due to hypertension, 8 % due to tuberculosis and 5% due to sepsis. The remaining deaths were caused by other conditions.
The World Health Day theme this year is high blood pressure or hypertension and along with diabetes is considered one of the two silent killers that are plaguing people all over the developed and developing world as well. Both of these conditions are mainly caused due to changing lifestyle habits, eating more junk food, rapid urbanisation, a more sedentary lifestyle and increase in smoking and drinking.
In pregnant women, hypertension can lead to a serious condition called preeclampsia where women start passing protein in their urine. This leads to the disease called eclampsia which is characterised by seizures and a coma. This condition also affects other vital organs like the kidneys, liver and brain.
What is even more shocking is many of these women don't suffer from high blood pressure pre-pregnancy. However, during pregnancy, there are a host of hormonal changes that goes on in the body which alters the mechanism of controlling blood pressure. This results in various pregnancy-related conditions. Hypertension in pregnant women or gestational hypertension can be caused due to a variety of reasons. Women who have a family history of preeclampsia are more prone to the disease. Also women suffering from kidney disease, diabetes, women are older than 35 or very young are all prone to gestational hypertension.
Hypertension or high blood pressure is one of the most common lifestyle diseases. Blood flows through our arteries with pressure. This pressure is determined by the pumping of the heart as well as resistance to the flow of blood by the arteries. Due to genetics, high cholesterol or other reasons, the wall of the blood vessels get thickened leading to increased resistance for the blood to flow. This causes the blood pressure to go up causing hypertension. Elevated blood pressure is linked to a variety of diseases coronary artery diseases, heart diseases, stroke, kidney diseases, vision loss and erectile dysfunction. High BP can be curtailed by exercising more, eating right, with anti-hypertensive medicine and by keeping stress at bay.
Check out the symptoms of hypertension.
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